Blue planet, green ideas | Donate your land for the environment

Since 1995, many Canadians have donated their lands to conservation, valued at over $1 billion. A way to contribute to the protection of natural environments, which is however not accessible to everyone. Portrait of a donor who has chosen to contribute.

Eric-Pierre Champagne
The Press

In 2020, Pierre Boucher donated part of land he had owned for 20 years in Cantley, Outaouais. He spent many hours there enjoying nature with his children, now adults. On this land of a hundred acres, he had built a chalet – which he could have sold with a nice profit, in a context of higher real estate prices.

The retired engineer instead chose to donate part of his land to the Nature Conservancy of Canada, an organization that specializes in the acquisition and protection of natural environments. A long-considered decision “over several years”, he explains.

“It is certain that I could have sold it at an interesting price, with an interesting profit”, specifies Pierre Boucher. The land in question is located about 20 minutes from downtown Gatineau. “An extraordinary natural environment”, confides its former owner.

“My children and I would sit in the woods, in silence, and after about fifteen minutes, the wildlife would come alive around us. We saw moose, beavers, turtles, migratory birds. There is a lake, a wetland. It is a very rich living environment. »

precious gift

Mr. Boucher remembers in particular the time when, after lighting a campfire, you could hear the howls of a pack of wolves on the other side of the lake.

Because “all that” no longer belongs to him since 2020. How did he come up with the idea of ​​donating his land, rather than entrusting its sale to a real estate broker? It was his neighbor who kind of paved the way. “A few years ago, the family of the neighboring owner donated their land upon his death. It was the first time I had heard of that,” says Pierre Boucher.

The idea therefore germinated in his mind over the years. “I was already a neighbor of a protected reserve,” he says. He discussed it with his children, who approved of the project, even though they themselves still enjoyed the chalet on occasion.

Pierre Boucher contacted the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which expressed interest in his land, which was already adjacent to a protected area. The organization bought back about a third of the land with its acquisition fund. The other two-thirds, valued at $220,000, were donated as an eco-gift.

In the case of Mr. Boucher, the capital gain was taken into consideration. However, the tax receipt for his ecological gift allowed him to “reverse” the effects of this capital gain.

Ecological gifts

Pierre Boucher had not registered with the federal government’s ecological gifts program. If this program is more advantageous from a tax point of view, the delays for evaluating the files are much longer, he explains.

According to Elizabeth Sbaglia, director of communications at the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), approximately 50% of land is acquired by the organization through ecological gifts, while the other half is purchased. Since 1962, CNC has helped protect 480 km^⁠2 of territories in Quebec, which is the habitat of more than 200 species of fauna and flora in a precarious situation.

“We see fewer and fewer natural environments near cities. You have to go further and further, it is no longer as accessible, believes Pierre Boucher. It’s kind of my contribution. »